Points of View: Aspects of Present-day EnglishOxford University Press, 1992 - 150 pages This is a fascinating collection of essays and reflections on language by Robert Burchfield, a leading authority on English usage and etymology, and editor of the Supplement to the First Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Points of View begins with two original and entertaining reflections, the first entitled "The Fowler Brothers and the Tradition of Usage Handbooks," the second "An Outline of Euphemisms in English." The selection of shorter pieces which follows--drawn from Burchfield's popular Sunday Times of London column, "Words and Meanings"--concerns the English language as it is used throughout the world. These cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from the language of newspaper recruitment advertising and Valentine's Day messages to the modern use (and misuse) of apostrophes and hyphens. The book concludes with a series of engaging thoughts on individual words--often the most simple--about which there is continuing debate in modern English. Whether focusing on such contentious issues as "between you and me" versus "between you and I," or discussing the twenty-nine meanings of the verb "to want," Burchfield proves himself to be a particularly keen arbiter of English usage and a perceptive commentator on the state of our language today. |
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Page 36
... London Review of Books . It lists Readers ' Requests , Lectures , Houses for Sale or Rent , and Services ( ' Un- findable books found ' , ' Spanish lessons offered by native speaker ' , ' Literate word processing and DTP ( = desk top ...
... London Review of Books . It lists Readers ' Requests , Lectures , Houses for Sale or Rent , and Services ( ' Un- findable books found ' , ' Spanish lessons offered by native speaker ' , ' Literate word processing and DTP ( = desk top ...
Page 45
... London Review of Books . It now turns up everywhere like a prized piece of wreckage salvaged from a precious old vessel . Even in a novel called Prisoners ( 1987 ) by the Texan novelist Bill Ripley : ' In one of his experiments with the ...
... London Review of Books . It now turns up everywhere like a prized piece of wreckage salvaged from a precious old vessel . Even in a novel called Prisoners ( 1987 ) by the Texan novelist Bill Ripley : ' In one of his experiments with the ...
Page 46
... London in 1566 by Sir Thomas Gresham , and it was officially called the Royal Exchange by Queen Elizabeth I. Just over two hundred years later it was renamed : ' Yesterday the Brokers and others at New Jonathan's , came to a resolution ...
... London in 1566 by Sir Thomas Gresham , and it was officially called the Royal Exchange by Queen Elizabeth I. Just over two hundred years later it was renamed : ' Yesterday the Brokers and others at New Jonathan's , came to a resolution ...
Contents
The Fowler Brothers and the Tradition of Usage Handbooks I | 11 |
An Outline History of Euphemisms in English | 17 |
Topics | 35 |
Copyright | |
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A. N. Wilson abbreviations adjectives adverbs advertisements ain't American Anglo-Saxon Anita Brookner apostrophe baggage Bernice Rubens British C. K. Stead called Chicago clause conjunction consonant constructions contexts dare death designer Dictionary edition elements ellipsis English-speaking entries euphemism euphemistic expressed future tense garbage Garrison Keillor grammarians H. W. Fowler happened hyphen illustrative examples infinitive Iris Murdoch John kind Kingsley Amis Latin less letter lexicographers linguistic literary London luggage modal Modern English Usage names newspapers normally noun occur Oxford participle Partridge 1942 past tense Penelope Fitzgerald Penelope Lively perhaps person phrases plural prefix preposition present pronouns question recent recorded Review of Books seems sense sentence adverb Shakespeare's speakers speech spelling Spycatcher Standard English suffix Sunday syllable synonyms T. S. Eliot things Thomas Keneally usage guides verb vocabulary vowel whereabouts words and meanings writers Yorker young